18 short years.
I knew that was all I had.
And with some of my adopted children joining our family later in life, I had even less time than that.
I wanted to pack my children’s lives with meaning. I wanted to give them the best life I could. I wanted to stand before God someday and tell Him that I had done all I could to raise my children to love and follow Jesus.
But something heavy was holding me back, like a weight laying on my chest as I laid awake at night, thinking about the possibility of homeschooling.
I realize now, that weight was fear. I was scared that homeschooling would require me to kiss my own dreams goodbye. I was scared my kids would emerge from adulthood as weird, socially awkward creatures that people would roll their eyes at and say, “Oh, they were homeschooled.” I was terrified that homeschooling would turn my life upside down.
And in many ways, it did.
My dining room table was suddenly taken over by books and papers.
My thoughts became consumed with worries about curriculum,
homeschool co-ops, and conferences–was I even qualified for this?
My school-aged kids were home all the time, and I didn’t know how to find time for myself.
But as the long days turned into months, and the months and into years, I started noticing new things:
My kids were playing outside when other kids were still sitting behind desks.
They loved learning and viewed the world as their classroom. They truly loved the Lord and were growing in Him.
They weren’t socially awkward ... in fact, they were comfortable and polite to adults and could strike up conversations with almost anyone.
I felt like I knew my kids–really knew them. And I learned how to give
them the individual attention they needed
And, perhaps most surprising of all … I still found time to write books, serve young moms in my community, and record my podcast.
So yes, you could say that homeschooling did turn our lives upside down.
But, 10 kids and 25 years later, I’ve realized something:
Homeschooling didn’t turn our lives upside down.
It turned our upside down lives right-side up.
I want to offer the opportunity to give your family the rich gift of homeschooling.
No, it won’t be perfect. But, I guarantee, if you do your due diligence
in the early stages and learn from other seasoned moms, you can bypass the stress, confusion, and exhaustion I experienced in the early years, and skip to the meaningful, fun adventure that comes with schooling your kids at home.
